Identity Fraud

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The introduction of a secure national identity scheme/identity cards scheme using biometric information will make a step change in protecting people from identity fraud. By linking a person's identity to biometric data which is unique to that person, a fraudster claiming to be another person can be detected. The Home Office is also working with financial services organisations and the e-government unit on how the identity cards scheme could make on-line transactions more secure. The combination of a secure national identity register and a robust means of verifying identity will be an important safeguard for individuals, public services and the private sector against these types of fraud.
	Prior to the introduction of ID cards, the Government are working with partners in the private sector and law enforcement to combat this growing threat.
	The Cabinet Office published a report Identity Fraud: A Study in 2002, which examined the scale and extent of identity fraud in the UK. The report estimated the cost of identity fraud to both the public and private sector at £1.3 billion per annum.
	Following the recommendations of the Cabinet Office report, the Home Office, in collaboration with other government departments and private sector organisations, such as the Department for Work and Pensions, HM Revenue and Customs and the British Bankers' Association, set up the Identity Fraud Steering Committee (IFSC) to lead a cross public/private sector work programme to tackle identity theft and identity fraud. The programme co-ordinates existing activity in the public and private sectors and identifies new projects and initiatives to reduce identity crime. Work is ongoing to implement measures against identity fraud that can be put in place in advance of an identity cards scheme.
	The committee met the chair and chief executive of SOCA—the Serious Organised Crime Agency—in the run-up to the passing of the legislation to create the agency. SOCA will target serious organised criminals who perpetrate fraud. The agency will work closely with partners in industry and the public sector to improve their security against ID and insider fraud.
	Co-operation and partnership—based on the exchange of information and expertise—between stakeholders is crucial in this response. A Cabinet committee, MISC 31, has been established to examine if any further provisions may be necessary to ensure that these exchanges take place as they need to.
	All police forces in England and Wales have now established single points of contact with their colleagues in the Crown Prosecution Service and other government departments and agencies including HM Revenue and Customs to improve the investigation and prosecution of identity crime.
	We are raising public awareness of identity fraud and how people can protect themselves from this type of crime. This includes the IFSC identity theft website (www.identitytheft.org.uk) and the identity theft leaflet, which was recently launched by my honourable friend the Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham). The website has had over 170,000 hits and since its launch, the leaflet has been co-branded and distributed by a number of organisations including the National Neighbourhood Watch Association and Barclays.
	The Home Office, UK Passport Service and DVLA worked closely with APACS, the Finance and Leasing Association and CIFAS—the UK's Fraud Prevention Service to support their project to produce Identity Fraud—The UK Manual. The manual includes examples of known security features from UK passports and driving licences and provides guidance to financial organisations to help spot forgeries.
	The UK Passport Service (UKPS) has deployed a database of lost and stolen passports that is being shared with border authorities and police worldwide to help prevent identity fraud. UKPS is also trialing the validation of passports against the passport database when they are presented as evidence of identity when opening bank accounts. This helps to identify forged and lost and stolen passports which are being used fraudulently. In a two-month pilot involving five companies, 71 suspicious instances of passport use were detected; e.g. where the details on the passport differed from that held on the database or the passport had been reported lost or stolen.
	The Registrar General's Office is exploring how we can notify financial services organisations of deaths more quickly as impersonation of the recently deceased is a significant means of perpetrating identity fraud. It hopes to implement this service in the near future.
	We changed the law in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 to align the penalty associated with fraudulently obtaining a driving licence with that for fraudulently obtaining a passport and made these offences arrestable. The maximum penalty for both documents is now two years' imprisonment. The Identity Cards Bill which is currently in your Lordships' House strengthens the law on the possession and use of false identity documents which are often used by criminals to open false bank accounts. Tampering with the national identity register which is another criminal offence included in the Bill would attract a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment.

Independent Commissioner for Detained Terrorist Suspects

Lord Rooker: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Shaun Woodward) has made the following Ministerial Statement.
	Copies of Dr Bill Norris's annual report for 2005 have been placed in the Library of both Houses. This is the final report to be submitted by the commissioner and I am grateful to him for all the hard work he has carried out in this post.
	I welcome Dr Norris's report and will consider it carefully. I will respond as soon as possible.

NHS Foundation Trusts

Lord Warner: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	Section 4(1) of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003 provides that a National Health Service trust may make an application to Monitor (the statutory name of which is the Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts) for authorisation to become an NHS foundation trust, if the application is supported by the Secretary of State for Health.
	I am today announcing that I support the following 18 NHS trusts in their bids to become NHS foundation trusts as part of wave 2 of NHS foundation trust applications:
	Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust
	Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology NHS Trust
	Gloucestershire Partnership NHS Trust
	Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Trust
	James Paget Healthcare NHS Trust
	North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust
	Northumbria Health Care NHS Trust
	Oxleas NHS Trust
	Royal Berkshire and Battle NHS Trust
	Salford Royal Hospitals NHS Trust
	Salisbury Health Care NHS Trust
	Sheffield Children's Hospital NHS Trust
	Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust
	South Devon Healthcare NHS Trust
	South Essex Partnership NHS Trust
	South Staffordshire Healthcare NHS Trust
	Tameside and Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust
	York Healthcare Services NHS Trust
	I can also announce that Monitor will be reviewing the applications of six National Health Service trusts that have previously received the support of the Secretary of State for Health. The trusts are:
	Aintree Hospitals NHS Trust
	Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust
	East Somerset NHS Trust
	King's College Hospital NHS Trust
	Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust
	Southend Hospitals NHS Trust
	Section 6 of the 2003 Act sets out the matters to be taken into account by Monitor and the terms under which authorisation of NHS foundation trust status can be given.
	I understand from the chairman of Monitor that it would expect successful applicant NHS trusts to be authorised as NHS foundation trusts in two batches on either 1 April 2006 or 1 July 2006.

Zimbabwe: Correction to Oral Answer

Lord Triesman: During Foreign and Commonwealth Office Oral Questions on Tuesday 10 January, in response to a supplementary question from my honourable friend for Northampton North (Sally Keeble), my honourable friend the Minister for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs (Ian Pearson) said that,
	"the United Kingdom is providing £10 million in support for the emergency housing programme".—[Official Report, Commons, 10/1/06; col. 144.]
	He should have said, "the United Kingdom has disbursed over £1 million in support to the international response to Operation Murambatsvina, which has included support for basic supplies, water and sanitation".
	The £10 million figure actually refers to HMG's commitment to the UN World Food Programme for food distribution. I apologise to the House for this inadvertent error.